Posts Tagged ‘assize courts’

  • A jerkin, a joke and a death

    I’ve just been reading this extract from the Assize  Court records: William Lamparde of Hadlow, indicted for felonious killing.  By an inquisition held at Strood, 3rd September 1598, before Martin Cotes, coroner, on the body […]

  • Indictments for witchcraft in Elizabethan England

    The last decades of the 16th century saw a sharp rise in indictments for witchcraft. In spite of some scepticism amongst the educated, a belief in the harmful power of sorcery was widespread at the […]

  • Elizabethan names

    Finding the right name for a character is one of the most important stages in writing a book, particularly when it comes to historical fiction when names must feel authentic.  I’m often asked where I found […]

  • (Lack of) Gun Control in Elizabethan England

    I was amused to read recently a story on the BBC about a dog accidentally shooting its master (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19630411).  Coincidentally, I had just been looking through the Calendar of Assize Records for Kent in the […]